The University of Iowa's 

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Current Projects

Hyperspectral satellite remote sensing: The new tool for detecting harmful algal blooms (HAB) events in Iowa’s lakes

Harmful algal bloom (HAB) events are becoming increasingly common and threaten Iowa’s valuable lake resources in the closure of beaches, degradation of drinking water quality, and increasing health risks (IDNR, 2022). Adding to the urgency, current projections suggest that with warming temperatures, HAB events will increase (Burkholder et al., 2006). When toxic, HABs are a health threat to anything that comes in contact, including humans, pets, and livestock (Backer, 2002). Here, we will explore hyperspectral satellite remote sensing’s ability to capture the dynamic nature of HAB development and compare it to existing HAB products.

Funding Agency: The University of Iowa's Interdisciplinary, Scalable Solutions for a Sustainable Future Project

Role: PI: Susan Meerdink; Co-PIs: Mary Skopec

Dates: Jan. 2023 - Dec. 2023

Alliance of Plant Phenotyping Software (APPS) Developers: Integration and Interoperability of Open-Source Tools to Support Plant Phenotyping for Agriculture

To feed, clothe, and power the world in the face of a growing world population, we need technologies that accelerate plant breeding and crop development. Plant phenomics aims to increase the throughput of measuring plant physical and physiological features by enabling non-destructive assessment of more genetic lineages at higher spatial and temporal resolution. The landscape of existing tools is fragmented, with many methods not available in a user-friendly form or not maintained. In general, methods are developed in silos and are not interoperable. To address this, we have built a Coordinated Innovation Network that will make existing phenotyping software tools more interoperable, develop tools that extract more information from existing data, and will contribute to training researchers in analysis of ‘big data’. 

Funding Agency: National Institute of Food and Agriculture: Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)

Role: PI: Malia Gehan; Co-PIs: Noah Fahlgren, Susan Meerdink, Alina Zare

Dates: Jan. 2022 – Current

Related Links:

Iowa Healthy Lakes Initiative: A multi-dimensional approach to measuring, informing, and solving Iowa's Harmful Algal Bloom Challenge

Lakes across Iowa are experiencing frequent harmful algal blooms (HABs) that imperil the health of people, pets, and ecosystems, and they impede Iowa’s sustainable development goals. Current understanding of HABs is limited by complex, interacting biogeochemical and physical processes that lead to highly dynamic HAB formation in space and time, resulting in challenges for predicting and mitigating risk to lake users. Current approaches fail to promptly report HABs and associated health advisories essential for developing exposure risk tools and stakeholder-driven solutions. A team of scholars from public health and communication, policy, environmental sensing, physical and biochemical, and environmental engineering, have come together to develop solutions and improve the health of Iowa lakes.

Funding Agency: The University of Iowa's Jumpstarting Tomorrow Seed Grant Program

Role: PI: Corey Markfort; Co-PIs: Xun Zhou, Greg LeFevre, Peter Thorne, Elise Pizzi, Susan Meerdink

Dates: Jan. 2022 – Aug. 2023

Related Links: https://research.uiowa.edu/iowa-healthy-lakes-initiative, Project Information  

Hurricane effects on the distribution and management of plant invasions in coastal habitats

Hurricanes create major ecosystem disturbances that can alter the structure and function of native plant communities. In addition, hurricanes can open niches that may be exploited by non-native invasive plant species. In this effort, we are using on-the-ground plant measurements and aerial hyperspectral sensing to evaluate the effects of hurricanes on Brazilian peppertree.

Funding Agency: Everglades National Park

Role: PI: Luke Flory; Co-PI: Alina Zare, Susan Meerdink

Dates: Sept. 2020 – Current

Related Links: UF Article 2021 

A hard rain’s gonna fall: Responses of Iowa’s bur oak to increased precipitation variability

Anthropogenic CO2 emissions have warmed the Earth by about 1°C, with further warming a virtual certainty over the next century. Warming accelerates the hydrologic cycle due to higher water vapor holding capacity of a warmer atmosphere, likely leading to increases in precipitation variability across the globe, as vividly seen in the extreme precipitation and flooding of the Midwest in spring 2019. How Earth’s forests, including those in the Midwest, will respond to increasingly volatile precipitation remains largely unknown. In this effort, we propose to examine bur oak responses to a combination of drought and high precipitation variability using precipitation manipulation experiments at Iowa’s Lakeside Laboratory. 

Funding Agency: The University of Iowa's Interdisciplinary, Scalable Solutions for a Sustainable Future Project

Role: PI: Matthew Dannenberg; Co-PIs: Susan Meerdink, Mary Skopec, Adam Skibbe

Dates: Jan. 2020 – Dec. 2023